Baby feeds 9 times a day.....?

Question

My baby girl is 3 weeks old and I feed her on cow and gate newborn formula. On the side of the carton it says a baby her age should be having 6 feeds per 24hrs, my baby has 9!! I feel like all I do is feed her!

She has between 3 and four ounces every two hours during the day, for example today:

2.30 am (first feed of day)

6.30 am

8.30 am

10.30 am

12.30pm

14.30pm

16.30pm

18.30pm

20.30pm (last feed of day)

After 20.30 she will fall asleep at 22.00 and go through untill 2-3am with no feeds at all.

Should I move her onto the next stage of the formula? Will this make her go longer between feeds during the day?

Any advice on this would be very much appreciated!! I'm at my wits end!!

Answer 1

Forget what the box says. At 3 weeks your baby needs to be feeding on demand. She doesn't need the next stage formula yet, you just keep doing what you're doing. Going 1-3 hours between feedings is perfectly normal at this age.

Answer 2

i agree with the majority. read the baby and not the box. babies have small stomachs and can only take in so much. they eat when they are hungry and my little girl ate just like yours. it seems like all the time. then when she didn't eat during those times, i'd worry. she's now 41/2 months and still eating on demand. and she's very happy!  

Answer 3

try giving her more at each feed!

Answer 4

First, you're doing fine and it is not unusual for a baby to eat every 2hrs at 3 weeks old.  Plus, she is getting a nice long sleep of 5-6 hours which is phenomenal at that age.   She perhaps is feeding more often during the day to 'stock up' for the night.  

As she starts eating more at each feed, she will be able to go longer between.  Make sure you are just feeding her when she truly is hungry and don't resort to the bottle just to calm her immediately.  Other than that, she is eating quite normally for her age.

Answer 5

Shes only 3 weeks old... they kind of do their own thing at that age. And, they need to! Just keep it up... she will go through stages where she will eat a ton and not sleep as much... then sleep a ton and not eat as much. Feed on demand and as she gets a couple months old she will start to get on a more regular schedule. Congrats!  

Answer 6

Babies at that age typically do eat more often, every 2-3 hours is normal until they get a little older. She is probably going through a growth spurt.  

Answer 7

Not much to do at this age but feed, change, burp and love.  It's a relentless cycle and no book or box can tell you exactly what your baby is like.  Give everything they ask for.  Extra meals, extra naps, extra love.  She'll be fine.  My oldest daughter ate like crazy and she's a slender 3 year old now.  You're baby will slow down on the meals when she's ready to. Don't push her, she's telling you what she needs.  Read the baby not the box.

Answer 8

shes at the age for a growth spurt, which may be what's going on here. babies eat more during growth spurts.  

Answer 9

my daughter ate 2 ozs every 2 hours when she was 1-4 weeks old so think your self lucky. if I gave her any more then that she would throw it all up.

I never heard of this type of formula before, what does the formula say?

usually you don't move to the next stage of a formula til they are 8 months or so.

try making 5 oz bottles and burp her after 3 oz then see if she will take the next 2 oz

feed her when she is hungry.